White Sox, Athletics close to Jeff Samardzija trade

The White Sox are close to acquiring starter Jeff Samardzija from the Athletics, according to a report from Ken Rosenthal of FOXSports.com. According to Jeff Passan of Yahoo! Sports, Oakland would likely receive infielder Marcus Semien and prospects in any deal for Samardzija.

Samardzija, who has one year remaining on his contract, appears to be the latest Athletic traded, following deals that have seen Josh Donaldson sent to Toronto and Brandon Moss shipped to Cleveland. He has drawn interest from multiple teams around baseball, but the White Sox have been the most consistently-linked club to this point.

Passan reports that the A's would use Semien as their shortstop if a deal is completed, potentially filling a void left by the departure of free agent Jed Lowrie. Chicago is said to be unwilling to discuss top prospects Tim Anderson and Francellis Montas in trade talks, so a package centering around Semien and some other young players may work. It is currently unclear who else is headed to Oakland in the proposed deal, which appears to be nearing completion.